Opening ceremony a bit confusing

The opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games was the most-watched on record, but the reviews are mixed. Some viewers were simply confused by the whole thing.

I’m on the fence about whether I liked it or not. I get the whole “going from a farming nation to the industrial age” — but wasn’t that, like, 100 years ago? London has hosted the games a record three times, including the XXX Olympiad going on now. Was it really necessary to have to re-explain England’s role?

The opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games was the most-watched on record, but the reviews are mixed. Some viewers were simply confused by the whole thing.

I’m on the fence about whether I liked it or not. I get the whole “going from a farming nation to the industrial age” — but wasn’t that, like, 100 years ago? London has hosted the games a record three times, including the XXX Olympiad going on now. Was it really necessary to have to re-explain England’s role?

The floor of the new stadium is impressive to say the least and all the planning and rehearsal time was evident. It looked as if everything went off without a hitch.

What puzzled me and probably many others who watched, from what I’ve heard, was the whole baby thing and hospital beds and the scary children’s book monsters. It was weird and not in an artsy way, either.

It took me a minute to realize England has a universal health care system, in which every single child is covered. It was among the first industrialized nations to enact such policy. Knowing that much and perhaps how much of an issue getting health care passed in our own country might be why it was singled out — the whole world was watching.

I liked that it gave mention to man responsible for creating the Internet, Tim somebody. And, here I thought it was Al Gore. Who knew? But then the charade between the boy and girl and communicating via text message was stupid and hard to follow.

The shining moment, aside from the unique way to light the Olympic torch, was the queen’s entrance to the opening ceremony. It cracked me up and showed her in a whole new light to me. Wow! Queen Elizabeth a Bond Girl? Having Daniel Craig, the current 007, in a film sequence picking up the queen from the Royal Palace only to see her escape by jumping from a helicopter, was priceless. Obviously, it wasn’t her who actually jumped, but it made for some great TV.

I would have much rather seen the music phase have more pizzazz than a few slivers of songs weaved into some crappy costuming and dancing. It would have been more exciting had they emphasized Great Britain’s impact on the rock ‘n’ roll era, and had the actual groups and singers appear as they made their mark through the decades.

Imagine The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and Herman’s Hermits represent the British Invasion of the ’60s; Elton John, David Bowie and Genesis bring on the ’70s; Duran Duran, Culture Club, Eurythmics, Def Leppard and George Michael and so forth do the ’80s.

These artists are all still living. It would have been awesome to see them show off their British pride. They could have even ended with a small performance from Adele, Britain’s current worldwide phenomenon, too. It would have been more exciting to watch.

McCartney’s performance of “Hey Jude” bombed. Why that song? I love the song, but I don’t believe any of the athletes who made the march into the dome were even born when that song was a hit for The Beatles. It didn’t work for me.

Beijing still has my vote for best opening ceremony yet. It was truly amazing from start to finish.